It is known to mount a control lever mechanism to a cowl of a materials handling vehicle. The control lever mechanism includes a plurality of control levers, each of which is formed from a tube material and bent by a bending apparatus at appropriate locations to provide a desired lever shape. The tube material bending operations are costly to effect. Also, the diameter of the tube material near an end location, i.e., where a knob is attached, is typically reduced. This reducing operation is also costly. The levers made from the tube material are typically mounted to the vehicle cowl using castings which are bolted to the levers. Because the cowl mounted levers are long, any mounting errors between the bolted-on castings and the levers will adversely change the spacing between the knobs at the opposite ends of the levers.
It is known in the prior art to laser cut deck-mounted control levers. However, those levers are much shorter in length than cowl-mounted control levers.
Accordingly, an improved control lever mechanism adapted to be mounted to a cowl of a materials handling vehicle is desired.